Forests bring real value to economy

China's forests can provide timber worth about 13.7 trillion yuan ($2.2 trillion) every year, according to a new report.

Besides the commercial value of forests, the report by the State Forestry Administration and the National Bureau of Statistics estimated that the country's forests can also restore 581 billion cubic meters of water and release nearly 1 billion metric tons of oxygen every year.

The report, which was released on Wednesday, was the first of its kind to account for forest capital as an additional way of measuring economic activity.